Azerbaijani students conquers Microsoft

/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

An Azerbaijani student earned second place at the Imagine Cup competition in the “Innovation” category and received a $10,000 check from Microsoft. This was the first time that a citizen of Azerbaijan participated in the competition.

Four Azerbaijani students risked it all took part in the competition, and we all know the brilliant outcome of that. The students chose not to sit in front of their computers, leaving comments on how much they could achieve, but personally went on to demonstrate their talents.

Today’s youth are not hovering in the clouds. What could be more detrimental to a healthy spine, than when kindergarten-aged children cannot be detached from their computers all day and night?

This problem was solved by our Azerbaijani hero students, who tried to help the youth to stay fit and healthy.

Our heroes – BSU students Arif Movsumzadeh, Fidan Rustamova, Nizami Ismaylov and Ulviyya Rustamova from the Khazar University – courageously participated in the world's largest annual technology competition, the 2015 Imagine Cup, which took place in Seattle, U.S.

The competition has been held with the support of the world-famous Microsoft company since 2003. The aim of the Imagine Cup is the creation of new and original projects and applications. The competition is open to graduate and undergraduate students from around the world going solo or with a team. Participants have to come up with a bright idea and build a prototype using modern technology. Competitions are held in the categories "Games", "Innovation," and "Social Projects".

Our students’ project – Spinal Kit Bluetooth-sensors and software for smart phones on the Windows Phone platform – allows you to develop the habit of sitting and standing without bending the spine. The jury recognized the application, the importance of the problem, and the effectiveness of the solution because millions of people working on computers have spinal issues.

“We learned about the competition only in March and needed just a few months to develop and propose the project. Despite the fact that we have no medical education, my mom, who works in the field of medicine, helped us a lot with useful advices. We went through all rounds of the competition and, finally, in July, Microsoft invited us to the final in Seattle, where 150 teams from 60 countries participated, including us. Finally, we took the second place, the first went to the Brazilians, and the third to the British," said one of the winners, Arif Movsumzadeh.

The invention of the Azerbaijani students has already garnered interest from foreign investors. The participants were greeted by the Communications and High Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov, who presented them a bonus of 4,000 manats.

Now Arif Movsumzade, Fidan Rustamova, Nizami Ismaylov and Ulviyya Rustamova have only three months to finalize their project for production and worldwide distribution.